United States S 1543: Veterans Opportunity Act of 2025

Bill Text

II
119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. 1543
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish in the Department
of Veterans Affairs the Veterans Economic Opportunity and Transition
Administration, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL 30, 2025
Mr. BANKS (for himself, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, and Ms. CORTEZ
MASTO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish in the
Department of Veterans Affairs the Veterans Economic
Opportunity and Transition Administration, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Opportunity 4
Act of 2025’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Aug 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1543.IS S1543kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB

2
•S 1543 IS
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF VETERANS ECONOMIC OPPOR-1
TUNITY AND TRANSITION ADMINISTRATION. 2
(a) VETERANS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AND TRAN-3
SITION ADMINISTRATION.— 4
(1) IN GENERAL.—Part V of title 38, United 5
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 6
following new chapter: 7
‘‘CHAPTER 80—VETERANS ECONOMIC OP-8
PORTUNITY AND TRANSITION ADMIN-9
ISTRATION 10
‘‘Sec.
‘‘8001. Organization of Administration.
‘‘8002. Functions of Administration.
‘‘8003. Annual report to Congress.
‘‘§ 8001. Organization of Administration 11
‘‘(a) VETERANS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AND 12
TRANSITION ADMINISTRATION.—(1) There is in the De-13
partment a Veterans Economic Opportunity and Transi-14
tion Administration. 15
‘‘(2) The primary function of the Veterans Economic 16
Opportunity and Transition Administration is the admin-17
istration of the programs of the Department that provide 18
assistance related to economic opportunity to veterans and 19
their dependents and survivors. 20
‘‘(b) UNDER SECRETARY FOR ECONOMIC OPPOR-21
TUNITY AND TRANSITION.—The Veterans Economic Op-22
portunity and Transition Administration is under the 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Aug 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1543.IS S1543kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB

3
•S 1543 IS
Under Secretary for Veterans Economic Opportunity and 1
Transition, who is directly responsible to the Secretary for 2
the operations of the Administration. 3
‘‘§ 8002. Functions of Administration 4
‘‘The Veterans Economic Opportunity and Transition 5
Administration is responsible for the administration of the 6
following: 7
‘‘(1) Vocational rehabilitation and employment 8
programs. 9
‘‘(2) Educational assistance programs. 10
‘‘(3) Veterans’ housing loan and related pro-11
grams. 12
‘‘(4) The responsibilities of the Secretary with 13
respect to the Transition Assistance Program under 14
section 1144 of title 10. 15
‘‘(5) Any other program of the Department 16
that the Secretary determines appropriate. 17
‘‘§ 8003. Annual report to Congress 18
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall include in 19
the annual report to the Congress required by section 529 20
of this title a report on the programs administered by the 21
Under Secretary for Veterans Economic Opportunity and 22
Transition. 23
‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—Each report under subsection (a) 24
shall include the following with respect to each program 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Aug 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1543.IS S1543kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB

4
•S 1543 IS
described in such subsection during the fiscal year covered 1
by that report: 2
‘‘(1) The number of claims received. 3
‘‘(2) The number of claims decided. 4
‘‘(3) The average processing time for a claim. 5
‘‘(4) The number of successful outcomes (as de-6
termined by the Secretary). 7
‘‘(5) The number of full-time equivalent em-8
ployees. 9
‘‘(6) The amounts expended for information 10
technology.’’. 11
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—The tables of 12
chapters at the beginning of title 38, United States 13
Code, and of part V of title 38, United States Code, 14
are each amended by inserting after the item relat-15
ing to chapter 79 the following new item: 16
‘‘80. Veterans Economic Opportunity and Transition Ad-
ministration ............................................................. 8001’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Chapter 80 of title 38, 17
United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall take 18
effect on October 1 of the first fiscal year commencing 19
after the date of the enactment of this Act. 20
(c) LABOR RIGHTS.—Any labor rights, inclusion in 21
the bargaining unit, and collective bargaining agreement 22
that affects an employee of the Department of Veterans 23
Affairs who is transferred to the Veterans Economic Op-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Aug 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1543.IS S1543kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB

5
•S 1543 IS
portunity and Tra